Strong Currencies Are Scarce:
Instead, Look for the Least Weak

Want to know about currency risk? Just ask any foreign investor who bought stock last year in PT Gudang Garam, an Indonesian clove-cigarette maker and a top market performer.

A local investor who bought shares on Jan. 1, 1998, and sold on Dec. 31, 1998, netted a nifty 39% gain. But any foreign investor who converted U.S. dollars into rupiah to buy the shares, then changed rupiah back into dollars after selling, would have lost 24%. In...